The two faces of Tim Pawlenty
Bemidji Mayor Richard Lehmann responds in our Friday edition to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s shot at Bemidji a week ago, during his weekly radio address.
{Pictured, Mayor Richard Lehmann and Gov. Tim Pawlenty take a skate at BSU's John Glas Fieldhouse, which will be replaced by the Bemidji Regional Event Center this October.)
The issue is bewildering, as it shows the two sides of a governor nee presidential candidate.
In the latest, Gov. Pawlenty last Friday used Bemidji to make a point of cities crying too loudly over the loss of Local Government Aid (which Pawlenty has been unalloting with alarming frequency.”
Pawlenty, a Republican, called Bemidji “a government town, in a lot of respects.” And then he blasted the city for raising its levy in 2009 by $2.4 million while LGA dropped $189. Pawlenty then blamed the city for contract talks, “they gave away significant wage increases and benefit increases as well as at a time when those in the private sector are not doing so well.”
Mayor Lehmann proiperly responded that the city has not increased wages or benefits, that in 2010 no city emloyee — union or non-union — will receive a wage or benefit increase. And he notes that Bemidji has lost 26 percent in LGA since 2003, a cumulative loss of $5.9 million. Where the governor got $189 is anybody’s guess — the city actually lost $210,493 in 2009 unallotments and $485,688 in 2010 unallotments.
Lehmann, who caucused Tuesday night with Republicans, uncharacteristically called Pawlenty’s attack on Bemidji “a drive-by rant.”
This is the same governor who came to Bemidji on Jan. 6, 2006, and pledged his support for the community’s effort to build a regional event center. He heard at that time “Bemidji Leads!” plans for the community with 17 destiny drivers, that included the event center.
“There are a lot of different people who will come in and argue about the economic wisdom of this or that aspect of it,” Pawlenty told a Chamber of Commerce brunch. “But in the end, you have to have some amenities in communities so a robust mix of people can say … it’s a fun, interesting, enriching place to live.” After hearing the “Bemidji Leads!” pitch, Pawlenty said that “we are anxious to be part of this exciting vision for the future. I have great confidence in what I’ve heard today.”
Or the Pawlenty of April 9, 2008, when he returned to Bemidji to sign the bonding bill that included $20 million for event center construction?
“Way to go, Team Bemidji!” he said as he signed the bill. “I wanted to come to Bemidji today and to say to the team, that is the Bemidji community, that we are thankful for your hard work, the community spirit that you brought to this project and the fact that you got it done.”
Does this sound like the same governor who now accuses the “government town” of sucking taxpayers dry?
“It wasn’t that long ago, and I was in the Legislature at the time, when there were some real questions about the future direction of this community,” Pawlenty said. “There were some warning signs on the dashboard … about demographic trends, economic concerns, a lot of change in the air in terms of the way the state and country was moving and whether Bemidji was going to be moving in a positive direction or whether Bemidji was going to be a community that was not going to be able to meet that challenge.”
The governor said a visit them to Bemidji brought him a “sense of maybe discouragement or a sense of things not going in the right direction, maybe not having the right kind of energy or vision for the future — and it was a worrisome thing.
“Now when I come here, and there are statistical measures to back this up, you get a different feel, you get a different sense,” Pawlenty said. “There’s a sense of teamwork, there’s a sense of kind of a dynamic and hopeful and optimistic sense of the future. There’s activities on the ground that back that up and support that feeling. You can see it as you move around the community.
“There’s kind of sense of strategic vision, forward-looking leadership,” Pawlenty added.
Have things changed that much in Bemidji, or perhaps do we have a governor positioning for a presidential race and is looking at any and every opportunity to bash things un-Republican — especially a “government town,” a concept that has to drive conservative, anti-government types nuts.
It’s just too bad that a growing regional center in a traditionally high poverty, high government services area has to be thrown under the bus to make a political point.
Posted by: bswenson on 2/05/2010 at 1:13 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Dayton takes GOP criticism in stride
Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, now campaigning for Minnesota governor, takes his criticism in stride. On Tuesday, the day before Dayton officially announced his DFL gubernatorial bid, the Minnesota Republican Party issued its “The Dayton Record,” seven pages of research it calls “self-admitted failure, one of America’s worst senators, big tax hikes.”
One obscure section, “Dayton attacked South Dakota,” the Minnesota GOP quotes Dayton in Fortune Magazine article about the controversy over extending a rail line through Rochester from that state which the Mayo Clinic was opposed. “The Mayo Clinic is worth a hell of a lot more than the whole state of South Dakota,” Dayton said. South Dakota Republican Rep. John Thune, who supported the railroad, said, “We may not all be millionaires in South Dakota, but we understand the value of hard work.”
While apologizing for the dig at the time in 2004, Dayton told me Thursday while in Bemidji campaigning that what he said is true.
“I’m not running in South Dakota,” he chuckled. “I’ll stand on that one, and I think I’m right. The Mayo Clinic is the largest private employer in the state in employing over 25,000 people. It’s the platinum jewel in our social and medical crown. And they want to have an election based on whether I think the Mayo Clinic more valuable than South Dakota, and want to have the election here in Minnesota – hey, let’s have it tomorrow.”
The Minnesota GOP also questions Dayton’s state of mind when, in 2004 he was the only Congress member to shutter his office and send his staff packing on the basis of a perceived terrorist threat. The move was widely rebuked, as the GOP research notes, calling the closure “a strange aberration.”
“I read a national intelligence report — I read it three times – that predicted the likelihood of another terrorist attack against Washington before the presidential election in 2004,” Dayton told me. “I didn’t explain it well at the time, but we’d adjourned. I was leaving Washington, and so was the rest of the Senate. We were going to leave our staffs unprotected and unaware in those offices. (That’s) because that fourth plane on 9/11, and I read the 9/11 Commission report, if those heroic passengers hadn’t brought it down n Pennsylvania, it was going to crash into the U.S. Capitol and it would have killed thousands of more people.
“I make no apologies for taking the best information I had at the time and doing what was necessary to protect the lives of my staff,” he added.
“I’ve been in public service in Minnesota for 35 years and I’m not perfect, never claimed to be,” Dayton said. “And I’ve made recent disclosures about my challenges as a human being, which we all face. People, I hope, will put everything in perspective and look at the times I’ve taken courageous stands to oppose the Iraq war, as one of the few senators to do that, and face public opinion then running 85 percent in favor of a war that turned out to be unnecessary and terribly destructive. Weigh in the balance my service.”
A section labeled “Dayton Promises Tax Hikes” includes a citation I covered on Feb. 17 when Dayton appeared at a DFL fundraiser. The item notes “Hard left Dayton attacked Gov. Pawlenty for refusing to tax raises,” and quotes my article, “’That Pawlenty won’t raise taxes even one penny,’ Dayton said. ‘That’s a disgrace.’” The section makes other similar citations from other media, under headings such as “Dayton’s No. 1 Priority: Raise Taxes” and “Dayton: Tax the Rich.”
“Often in most places they (GOP staff) have a camera filming what I’m saying and I say, ‘If you put on the TV honestly and accurately what I’m saying, I’ll pay for the ad along with you to say what I’m saying,’” Dayton said. “I’m going to raise taxes only on the wealthiest people in the state. I know what they’re going to say – he’s going to raise everybody’s taxes – and they’re going to distort everything, because they know if this election’s based on the truth, and people know the truth and know the facts, then I’ll win. They’ve got to twist and distort everything, and that’s the ugly side of politics.”
But starting this early could be a harbinger of the fall campaign, should Dayton win the Sept. 14 primary – he’s bypassing the DFL endorsement to take his case to Democrats in the party primary.
“The way it works these days is they try to destroy you personally in order to defeat you politically,” Dayton said. “And they know that if we have a campaign on the issues that I’ll win.”
He quotes President Truman’s famous quip, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” He adds, “I’m still in the kitchen.”
Dayton recently disclosed that he is a recovering alcoholic and sought treatment for depression. He lays that on the table also for voters.
“That’s the great thing about a democracy,” he says. “You put your name on a ballot in front of the people, and the people decide. And I’m going to run as best I can and then I’ll be at peace with whatever decision the voters of Minnesota make.”
Posted by: bswenson on 1/22/2010 at 1:20 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: dayton gop
Gaertner goes to DFL primary
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner threw a monkey wrench into the gubernatorial race on Tuesday by changing her mind about abiding by the DFL endorsement. Now she’ll go to the September DFL primary.
“To be honest, I think my original plan to rely solely on the endorsement and convention process was too politically limiting. I firmly believe that an effort to expand our reach to a much larger universe of Minnesotans is the right direction — especially since some in the field have been in that mode all along,” Gaertner said Tuesday in a statement.
While not a frontrunner, Gaertner’s movement to the primary may cause other candidates to renege on their pledge not to buck the party endorsement. Especially since she may draw women voters to that election.
Gaertner also says she may appeal more to the moderate Democrats of a primary than the left-leaning delegates of a convention.
“This doesn’t mean that I have given up on anyone in the DFL. Like other candidates who have stated their intention to run in a primary, I respect the party process and will continue to work to gain the support of delegates to the DFL convention. I will be working hard, however, to gain the support of the many loyal DFL voters who don’t always get engaged in the caucus and convention process,” Gaertner said.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, in Bemidji last week to attend Sen. Mary Olson’s fundraiser, got that question first out of the box from the 40o or so people who attended.
“I think right now it’s in-credibly important for Democ-rats to come together,” Rybak said, adding he would abide by the endorsement.
He alluded his polling shows he “could very well win” a primary because of his name recognition, “but we don’t need that right now. We don’t need a bloody primary that concludes our race in September and only gives us two months to com-pete against the Republican. … I’m running for the endorse-ment, and will support whoever gets that endorsement.”
He said he thought “every Democrat needs to come together behind the endorsed candidate.”
Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, another DFLer seeking the endorsement, told me Monday that he thinks the field will shake out as soon as the Feb. 2 precinct caucuses.
With 11 Democrats in the field, he believes a candidate preference poll will mean the end for the bottom three or four candidates. “It starts getting pretty tough,” he said.
Bakk has seven people work-ing on previous caucus attendees, he said. “Rybak has 400,000 people who just voted for him, that’s 400,000 people who don’t know who I am.”
Bakk says his goal is to “stay in the hunt.”
Also Tuesday, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher’s DFL gubernatorial campaign announced that longtime spokeswoman, Alli-son Myhre, for U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, DFL-7th District, has now taken the job of Kelli-her’s communications director for the campaign.
Myhre lives in Fergus Falls and worked out of Peterson’s Detroit Lakes office. Her job change is listed as a “leave of absence” with the Peterson folks.
Posted by: bswenson on 1/05/2010 at 10:35 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: dfl primary, gaertner
Rybak on Indian issues, Vikings stadium
Governments of American Indian tribes in Minnesota wield a lot of political power. While technically and legally sovereign nations, they also play a role in shaping Minnesota government. The advent of Indian gaming has been a financial boon to many tribes, and an enterprise they want protected for as long as it creates profits.
That’s why when Democrats gather, usually tribal officials are also there to probe potential candidates on their positions first on Indian gaming and then on Indian issues such as health care. They usually don’t bother Repub-licans, because they know where the majority of them stand – as long as Indian casinos are allowed, why not expand gaming to include video gaming in bars? Or creating racinos, joint non-Indian casinos/racetracks?
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, the Democrat seeking DFL endorsement for governor in 2010, found himself under the microscope Wednesday night as he was the keynote speaker at Sen. Mary Olson’s fundraiser at her northeast rural Bemidji home. In the crowd were Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Archie LaRose and Tribal Coun-cilor Eugene “Ribs” Whitebird. Also attending was John McCarthy, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association.
“I want to know how you stand on the Indian gaming issue,” Whitebird asked Rybak when he took questions after making remarks about his gubernatorial bid. “Are you willing to support our tribes, not only Leech Lake, but the other tribes?”
All belong to MIGA, which opposes the expansion of gaming beyond that granted by compact with the state of Minnesota exclusively to the state’s American Indian tribes.
“Will you support us in not letting gambling into the bars?” Whitebird asked.
“I’ve always opposed the expansion of gambling,” Rybak said.
If a bill was passed by the Legislature — which is attempted each session — to allow video gaming in bars, would you veto it? Whitebird pressed. “I oppose any expansion of gambling in this state,” Rybak returned.
And Whitebird took another angle, asking Rybak if he supports public funding for a new Vikings football sta-dium. One way to finance it is through the expansion of gambling. “I’m interested in protecting our gaming inter-ests, and ask the state to leave our gaming alone,” he said.
“I support a Vikings stadium,” Rybak said. “I think the highest priorities we have are health care, schools and transportation. … When you get issues like Viking stadiums often what happens is people will come up will all sorts of cleaver ideas to fund them, and that’s great. I’m going to work n that, too. But if we do that, we should tie together the others. If we can fund a Vikings stadium, we sure as heck can fix our schools, we sure as heck can fix our infrastructure.”
Rybak was asked why state government should help fund a private enterprise, and he put the Vikings stadium into the same pot as the Guthrie Theater and amateur sports arenas around the state – he’d support all of them. But with the Vikings stadium, he said the public should also have a return in the investment, such as a stake in the increased value of the development with the Wilfs. Also, the least expensive way should be looked at, saying that the latest proposal to renovate the Metrodome would save millions of dollars.
“I do believe there are places where we all come together,” he said. “And professional sports a big polluted sys-tem but I do believe there’s a way for us to do it and feel justified,” he said.
User taxes are also viable he said, and added that while he struggled with it, he finally did support the increased sales tax in Hennepin County to help pay for the new Minnesota Twins stadium.
Now would be the best time to provide public dollars for a Vikings stadium, Rybak said, as it would impact the 30 to 40 percent unemployment rate n now in the construction trades — five or six times that of the state average unemployment rate of 7.8 percent.
Whitebird also reiterated that the state’s gaming compact is one of the most unique in the nation in that it calls for the agreement to exist “in perpetuity.” Most Indian gaming compacts with other states include sunset dates in which new agreements must be negotiated. But that Minnesota agreement is also bad news to politicians who want to expand gaming.
“We have one of the better compacts in the whole U.S,.” Whitebird said. “I have other tribes asking me how’s your compact with the state?”
In 2008, the Leech Lake Tribal Council’s political action committee, gave $500 to Tom Bakk’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Bakk is the Cook DFL senator who chairs the Senate Taxes Committee. The Tribal Council also paid $20,000 for lobbyist services at the Minnesota Legislature.
MIGA spent $300,000 in 2008, $340,000 in 2007 and $350,000 in 2006 on lobbyist services, according the state Cam-paign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
He also told Rybak that support is needed to locate a Minnesota Veterans Home in Bemidji, which is at the cen-ter of three American Indian reservations with high numbers of veterans. Northern Minnesota is underserved, with veterans homes only in Silver Bay and Fergus Falls.
Rybak said he and his wife, Megan, have held lifelong interests in American Indian issues, and as mayor, has been active in working with urban Indian populations.
“One of the things in which we have an opportunity … is that Minnesota should be getting a whole lot more of its share of resources,” he said. “The last two Indian hospitals were located in Arizona and Colorado. Why isn’t Minnesota getting those resources?”
Minnesota hasn’t done enough to address disparities, Rybak said, but also not enough to address opportunity.
“We are in the first time in many, many, many generations where the popular culture in America finally gets it with the Indian way,” he said. “This is nothing that is new to me.”
As a child, he said, with his parent’s drug store at Chicago and Franklin avenues in Minneapolis, “I spent a lot of time looking firsthand at Indian issues. I really made that a good part of my life’s studies. Indian issues are big issues.”
Minnesota needs to hold up the Indian way and the Indian culture “as a key part of what Minnesota is all about,” Rybak said. “This should be a state that says that one of the great things about it is fact that there are incredibly successful tribal communities here, with great needs but great opportunities as well.”
Posted by: bswenson on 1/01/2010 at 12:05 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: american indian, gaming, miga, rybak
Peterson won't go after all
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to lead a bipartisan delegation of members of Congress — a codel — next week to the climate change summit in Copenhagen.
But apparently House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, DFL-7th District, won’t be among them.
Several sources reported earlier this week, including Washington, D.C.’s CQ-Roll Call, that Pelosi had invited Peterson to go.
“House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who was something of a headache for Democratic leaders in pressing for farm-friendly provisions in the climate bill before the House vote, is also expected to attend,” said the report.
But a brief e-mail Friday afternoon from Peterson spokeswoman Allison Myhre simply stated that “Mr. Peterson is not going to Copenhagen.”
Pelosi is lead a delegation of about 20 lawmakers, if the trip can be fitted into the House schedule. The House is in session next week, at work on a jobs bill which Pelosi wants done by week’s end.
President Barack Obama intends to be in Copenhagen on Dec. 18 to address the summit, the final day of the two-week conference.
Posted by: bswenson on 12/11/2009 at 8:19 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
